Sure, you’re familiar with Wonder Woman and Batgirl. But what about Tomboy, the sweet teenaged gal-next-door by day and masked crook-pummeler by night? Or the Jaguar, an exchange student from Brazil coping with both feral animal powers and baffling American culture? Or Street Angel, the 13-year-old skateboarder who outfights ninjas and outsmarts demons?

From tough-talking detectives and sarcastic social critics to cape-wearing crimebusters and ordinary teenagers, female protagonists have filled just about every role there is in comics. Yet too few have achieved the high-level pop-culture status of their male counterparts. Now is the time to give these successful, but largely unknown, characters their due, proving that not only do strong female protagonists belong in comics, but they’ve always been there. With vintage art, publication details, and enthusiastic commentary, comics publisher and researcher Hope Nicholson brings these lost ladies of the comics world back to life.